A lot of food trucks start with Asian cuisines, then mess around by mixing in elements from other cuisines to achieve what is broadly referred to as “Asian fusion.” Think of Japanese or Korean tacos, which have become very popular over the last few years.

Kong Bab is a new to NYC food truck that doesn’t try to achieve “fusion.” They stick with what they know, traditional Korean dishes. According to their Twitter account, Kong Bab originated in Washington DC, and either moved or expanded to NYC in September.

The menu includes bulgogi, teriyaki, bibimbap and spicy beef and chicken. Kong Bab has you covered if you’re not sure what to order. They are happy to combine any 2 of the dishes into a combo platter, which is what we did, ordering spicy beef and spicy chicken. The meat dishes cost $10, veggie dishes are $8, and it doesn’t cost any more for combo platters.

We started with the beef that served double duty. It was marinated in a sweet, fruity marinade if you order bulgogi. But if you want spicy beef, they add a spicy, sort of bbq sauce that perked up the flavor nicely. This was the perfect amount of heat for us. It tingled the tongue, but the flavor of the bulgogi marinade still came through fine.

Spicy Chicken (credit: Perry R.)

The chicken was cut into bite-sized pieces and was good too. The marinade wasn’t as pronounced on the chicken as it was on the beef. We preferred the spicy beef, but if you don’t eat red meat, the chicken was good too.

There are 3 types of rice to choose from: white rice, brown rice and something we haven’t seen before, white rice with black beans. We opted for brown rice, and it provided a solid base for the meats and sauces we ordered.

If you’re a fan of kimchi, you’ll like the side dish that’s included with the platter. It was spicier than the sauces on the meat, but the cabbage still had a slight crunch to it.

The Kong Bab truck has only been around NYC for a few weeks, but it’s a good addition to the food truck scene here. You can find them on Twitter here and on Facebook here